Pucker Up Winner Shows Class On Grass

Southern Tradition Rolls In Stretch

Southern Tradition, a damsel who delights in performing on the grass, proved to be the class act in Sunday`s highly competitive Pucker Up Stakes on the grass at Arlington International Racecourse.

With Earlie Fires in the saddle, Southern Tradition came from just off the pace to assert herself in the upper stretch and went on to win the Grade III $116,900 race by 1 1/4 lengths.

Fires made it sound easy: ``I just got position, and when I got ready to go, I asked her and she kicked in.``

A bit of an overlay at odds of 8-1, Southern Tradition went the 1 1/8-mile race in 1:49 1/5 on a firm course and returned $18.20, $6.40 and $4. It was her third victory in eight starts this year-all on the turf. In 11 outings on the grass during the course of her two-year career, she never has finished out of the mutuel money.

Virgin Michael, the 3-1 favorite, stalked the frontrunner Leering and Southern Tradition throughout the race. The New Yorker tried to match strides with the winner down the stretch, but couldn`t and settled for the consolation prize in the test for 3-year-old fillies.

California invader Slew of Pearls showed in the 11-horse race, a half-length shy of the runner-up. She finished strongly on the outside after encountering traffic problems with about three furlongs to go.

``She clipped a heel, and we were lucky that she didn`t go down,`` said Slew of Pearls` rider, Corey Black. ``She`s pretty agile, though, and she rallied around the turn for home. If she didn`t have the problem at the three- eighths pole, I think she would have had a chance to win it.``

Southern Tradition`s trainer, Henry Carroll, wasn`t surprised to see so many talented fillies turn up in the Pucker Up. ``There`s not a graded stakes with money on the grass for 3-year-old fillies between now and the (Grade III, $75,000-added) Najana at Saratoga in early August,`` said Carroll.

``But there wasn`t much legitimate speed in there, and historically here on the grass you don`t see many horses coming from way, way out of it. I was glad to see Leering go the lead. Southern Tradition has good tactical speed. Earlie got the good position we wanted, and I knew she`d be dead game in the stretch.``

Carroll`s stable includes another outstanding grass runner, 8-year-old Yankee Affair, who ran third in last year`s Arlington Million after finishing 12th in 1988.

``We`ve got it on his agenda,`` said the trainer. ``We hope we get an invitation to come back.

``We`re running him Wednesday in the Poker at Belmont Park, using that as a prep for the Caesar`s International (formerly the United Nations) at Atlantic City on July 21.

``Another race I have in mind for Yankee Affair is a race here, the (Aug. 11) Arlington Handicap.``

- Beach Towel, the nation`s No. 1 ranked standardbred, rebounded from the worst performance of his 21-race career to pace the fastest mile in the 44-year history of Chicago harness racing Saturday night at Sportsman`s Park.

The time was one-fifth of a second swifter than the previous record set in the same race by Jate Lobell in 1987.

Camluck was the closest of Beach Towel`s 10 rivals, falling 1/2 lengths short with a late move on the outside. Global Assault was third.

With Ray Remmen at the reins, Beach Towel went off at odds of 1-5 and paid $2.40, $2.20 and $2.10 in winning for the seventh time in eight starts this year. In four of these triumphs, he has recorded times of 1:53 or faster. But in last weekend`s $1 million North America Cup in Toronto, Beach Towel broke stride twice in the opening quarter and finished ninth and last.